


To help someone

by Rogercat



Series: Ancalagon the cat [16]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Fourth Age, Gen, Maids, Married Couple, Rebirth, Social Anxiety, Valinor, farm animals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28960488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: A new maid in the service of his owners, seems to bond surprisingly well with Ancalagon
Relationships: Dior Eluchíl/Nimloth of Doriath
Series: Ancalagon the cat [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633960
Comments: 4
Kudos: 7





	To help someone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nuredhel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuredhel/gifts).



One day when Elrond was visiting his grandparents, he chose to talk about something unexpected during dinner: 

“One of the Restored females from that orphanage that Maedhros is having in Formenos, is not managing well in her future when it comes to finding work?” Dior wondered, using the official term for Elves who once had been orcs in their past lives but healed in the Halls of Mandos and reborn as Elves. 

“Yes. She is not being abused or anything such, the family is former Noldor Exiles after all, but her behavior strongly suggests that she must have been at the very bottom of the pecking order and outside the foster family she is very anxious about .... well, almost anything that has big crowds and lots of people. She has just narrowly passed an acceptable schooling because she also suffers from social anxiety that made things difficult for her to be in a school class and I think she would be more at ease if she was allowed to work in a smaller household outside the big cities.” 

Nimloth listened as she drank some of the cider from her glass. She could see the logic of Elrond hoping if they might be able to help, their house was not far from the small village nearby but enough to be a quiet place if they wanted peace and quiet. Also, their household was not that big, the three maids had a set scheme for who would help the female cook in the kitchen each day, the gardener would have help from the two stable grooms if he needed it and everyone helped out with the laundry. 

“If she is found to fit among our household, she could be tasked with caring for the animals it works.” 

The hens and ducks had eggs that needed to be collected daily, the two goat does would need to be milked, in summer the bees had honey to be collected and of course, there was Ancalagon to think of too. The cat could take care of himself, but it was important that he did not see a new servant as someone to chase away because of mutual dislike or something such. 

“Anca might be a bit tricky, given that he is not exactly...the sort of cat who is friendly to unknown strangers. On the other hand, he is protective of everyone in the household if he feels that there is some form of danger.” 

Trying could not hurt, they all agreed, and Elrond promised to tell the Fëanorians about this. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

A few weeks later, Celegorm arrived at the house with not only Huan, but a young female Elf too, carrying a bag that had to hold clothing and a few personal things. As everyone had been gathered for some tea and snacks out in the garden, it was not hard to find the members of the household. 

“Hello, everyone, this is Dineloth who is searching for a job as a maidservant.” 

A Sindarin, gender-neutral name which meant “Silent Flower”, and pretty fitting in its own way. Dineloth was not small for an Elf, but her body language spoke enough of the nervousness she tried to hide, as well the most likely  _ unintended _ death glare and the scowl on her face. 

“I see why Elrond mentioned that she has some serious social anxiety, even if she tried, most Elflings would be scared by a such face,” Nimloth thought for herself but did not mention it because it might not be a good first impression of her as a employer, instead greeting the younger she-Elf with a gentle smile. 

  
  


Despite that she was not the most talkative person, Dineloth showed herself serious about doing her tasks. Once the animals got used to her, it seemed to go well with her being in chance. Also, her social skills may not be the best, but she managed to get along with the household well enough. Even Ancalagon seemed to accept her after a few weeks, perhaps because she left him alone to do whatever he pleased and did not try to catch him for some cuddles as other, overeager guests could do. 

“I do not see what all the fuss about your mother's legendary beauty is about, Master. Surely the former Elves of Doriath should get that the Noldor and other races would have their own beauty standards,” she said one evening when Dior was inside the aviary to check on one of the hens, “and personally I find portraits with the varied appearances of mortal women far more pleasant.” 

“Aye. Lord Aegnor once gave a black eye to someone who had the nerve of calling Lady Andreth  **_plain_ ** in contrast to an Elf-maid. And do not even get me started on what the Dwarves view as beauty, though they generally favor personality and skills in a craft as more attractive for a possible courtship than merely physical looks.” 

Seeing that the hen did not show any signs of illness but maybe just had a bad day yesterday, Dior let the hen dash out of his hands before locking the door again. 

“Anca? What are you looking at?” 

Judging from the death glare that Dinloth suddenly made for real, it seemed to be aimed on something that the cat was also looking at. 

“A damn fox that has tried to steal some of the hens over the past days, master.” 

Ancalagon was already looking ready for a fight with the red fox if needed, and undoubtedly it would be something to witness since the feline did have 10 kilos of muscles in weight on him and was the biggest cat in this area. 

“Would you like some form of extra alarm or trap in case Anca may not be able to prevent a theft in time?”

She did not answer, but Dior guessed that some of her old instincts as a former orc may have been triggered. The chickens were not merely held for eggs, they would eventually become food as well because of their meat, and he had gotten a written note from Maedhros about that Restored Elves could have, well, not the most friendly reaction if it looked like their food might be stolen. And right now, that fox seemed to have triggered that reaction. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

That night, Dinloth was hiding herself on the roof of the aviary, a sling and ready near her hand.

“I think Ancalagon hid himself around the hedge…” 

She tried to see if she could spot the fox somewhere, knowing that the cat had blended in perfectly with the night darkness and thus would be impossible to see outside his glowing golden eyes 

“ **_MEEEEEOW!!_ ** ” 

The sudden yowl from Ancalagon, and the sounds of a fight not many moments after, revealed where the fox had tried to sneak around in order to see if it could catch a chicken. 

“Damn it, Ancalagon! I hoped to give it a deadly strike on the head!” 

She could see the fight well enough despite the fact that only the fox seemed to be visible in the darkness thanks to the red fur, but she could not send a stone flying now because she could hit Ancalagon by mistake. 

“Hey, Anca! Lower the level of noise you are causing, it is the middle of night!” Nimloth called from the bedroom window from the second floor, and she even sent 

This was not the first time Ancalagon woke up the household because of his screams from a cat fight or something else, but Nimloth had not been having the best of days the passing day and preferred to try sleeping without anything to wake her. 

Spotting the fox now trying to escape the cat with rather obvious fear over how Ancalagon was a experienced fighter even against opponents who were not even cats, Dinloth chose to throw a stone towards the hedge where the fox just vanished as a final warning in the hope of that the fox would realize that no, it could forget about stealing a chicken here as a meal. 

  
  


The next morning, it was only natural that the rather loud fox attack during the night was the topic of conversation as they all ate some breakfast. 

“Shows again why we do not need any guard dogs here. Anca is perfectly able to guard the house and belonging area as his territory,” Dior muttered, rubbing his eyes as a sign that he had woken up in fright at the loud screams from Ancalagon and then taken some time to fall back asleep. 

“And you both did a good job on defending the chickens from a killer, Dinloth. Just...try to be a little more quiet next time? Ancalagon may not care about the noise level, but we have night as the sleeping period for a reason.”

She could tell that it was not meant as a scolding or spoken in displeasure, after all, Dinloth had the duty of caring for the animals. 

“I will try, everyone.”

And no one pretended to notice that she gave Ancalagon a few thin slices of ham from her plate under the table as thanks for the cooperation during the night. 


End file.
